Thanks to our new UFO output transformer design it became possible to bring Decware's most popular amplifier (the Zen TORII MK4)
to you in a smaller and more obtainable package without
sacrificing sound quality or performance. In fact when you hear it
we're sure you'll join the already huge number of TORII JR owner's who
say this is somewhat of an understatement.
 This
amplifier is an example of what happens when you build a tube amp in
the United States with US parts and labor and put a lifetime warranty on
it.
The JR is using the same proven if not legendary circuit used in the
TORII MK4 but stripped of all non-essential features. As the first in
the TORII line to employ our Ultra Fidelity Outputs you can expect a
bandwidth to within 1/2 dB from 25Hz ~ 25kHz. The 3dB frequency
response is 10Hz~70kHz with 6dB out past 100kHz. The resolution it takes
to get this bandwidth results in the kind of speed and transparency that
make this amp UN-touchable by anything other than exotic boutique
products.
It has been my goal since taking Decware online in
1996 to make an amplifier that sounds this good available to the sincere but broke
audiophiles of the world, and while we offer several amplifiers the
TORII JR the only one that gives you this combination of power and sound for the the price.
Steve Deckert - owner of Decware & designer of Decware amplifiers.
- SET TRANSPARENCY / PUSH-PULL DESIGN
- UFO OUTPUT TRANSFORMERS = -6dB @ 100kHz
- DUAL MONO TUBE REGULATED POWER SUPPLY
- ULTRA SHORT 3D POINT TO POINT SIGNAL PATH
- ZERO GLOBAL NEGATIVE FEEDBACK
- MADE IN USA WITH USA PARTS
- NO CIRCUIT BOARDS / LIFETIME WARRANTY
20 WATTS PER CHANNEL
If you're coming from a larger solid
state amplifier of several hundred watts and considering a tube amp
but worried about things like bass control, dynamics, weight,
headroom, or just having enough power to make your speakers sound right,
then you'll probably be pretty surprised when you first hear a TORII JR
because the performance and speed are actually superior. You will
not be disappointed.
Remember, 20 watts of high voltage
tubes coupled to
your loudspeaker through a huge transformer is not the
same thing as 20
watts of solid state transistors directly coupled to
your loudspeaker. Most people would perceive the power of a TORII JR
around 100 watts and that's not far off when you consider the peak power
is over 70 watts into a loudspeaker, and instantaneous peak power even
higher still. Let's just call it an amazing amount of headroom.
SET TRANSPARENCY
Decware's Motto for the past 20 years
has been: "If the First Watt Sucks, Why Continue?" ...and nothing could
be truer today. If an amplifier doesn't have the incredible sound of
lower power SET's, then it makes no difference how much power it has
because it won't be used by people spoiled by SET transparency.
The Zen TORII amplifiers of which there are now two, employ a
direct-coupled phase inverter design that is high in even order
harmonics very much like a good SET amplifier. The result is an
SET sound with performance that exceeds solid state.
UFO OUTPUT TRANSFORMERS = -6dB @ 100kHz
Ultra Fidelity Output (UFO) are the equivalent of rare hand made boutique transformers
because that's exactly what they are. Made in the USA
and introduced in the Summer of 2015, the TORII JR is
the first push
pull amplifier to employ the technology. As a
result, the
resolution and uncanny speed these transformers enable
make the TORII JR
literally untouchable in the world marketplace for the
dollar, and that of course means in no uncertain terms that there is
nothing in this price range that sounds better.
DUAL MONO TUBE REGULATED POWER SUPPLY
You have to understand that tube
amplifiers at this price do not have regulated power supplies. And
the the more expensive amplifiers that do have regulated power supplies
use solid state transistors to do the regulation because it's cheap and
makes it possible to use 10 times smaller capacitors, which also save
money... and very few amplifiers any where near this price point use
tube regulation and rather than shrink power supply capacitance, double
it like a Decware Torii amplifier. Consider the benefit of this approach
to yield results similar to having your amplifier plugged into an expensive power re-generator.
ULTRA SHORT 3D POINT TO POINT SIGNAL PATH
Sometimes a picture can be worth a thousand words and below is the entire audio circuit of a TORII JR. There are
less parts here than you find in a single solid state Op Amp, and being
life size instead of miniaturized, it handles the high voltages and
current that create the real power of tubes.
Shown
above; Silver/Teflon wire, cryo treated capacitors and all
components silver soldered in a layout
that minimizes wire and connections. The channel you
see above takes 5
man hours to build. Mass producing the same thing with a
circuit board
reduces that time to 4 minutes. So if you want to know
whether or not a company is more interested in profit or sound, just see
if uses circuit boards.
ZERO GLOBAL NEGATIVE FEEDBACK
This won't mean much to you unless you're an imaging
and sound-stage enthusiast. Negative feedback is in the vast majority of
tube amplifiers and almost all solid state equipment. It smears
the time signature of the music and as a result lowers distortion on
paper, but in our would, smeared time IS a distortion that remains far
worse. In a good room where you can reproduce a sound stage behind the
speakers that goes back 30 feet it is easy to hear what feedback does.
The same recording with the amazing depth is destroyed with the addition
of feedback reducing the depth to about 6 feet. Attack is also
blunted by feedback which is why amplifiers like the TORII JR without
feedback sound like they hit harder than feedback ridden solid state.
LONG TUBE LIFE
The tubes in a TORII JR run at lower voltages than
most tube amps and are biased at about 70% of their rated current
resulting in tubes that last about twice as long as normal. This
also affects the sound in two ways; 1) the lower voltages give a more
organic presentation and 2) At any given time the tubes are in better
shape than they would be in most amps, so consequently hour for hour the
TORII JR will always have better sounding tubes. Many tube amps besides
not sounding as good as promised, become tedious to maintain with
all to frequent tube issues. The TORII JR is not one of those amps.
MADE IN USA WITH USA PARTS
Many of the best inventions to benefit mankind came from the United
States which is a unique melting pot of immigrants from countries all
around the world. The TORII JR, as do all Decware amplifiers, takes
advantage of these resources and technologies to bring you an amplifier
that Af) You'll probably never sell and B) will probably never break
hence the reason it comes with a lifetime warranty against defects in
parts or workmanship.
TUBES ARE INCLUDED
 This
amp
is
shipped
with hand selected and matched quads of
premium
quality EL34
output
tubes by Tungsol.
Any
time you change or refresh your output tubes, the bias setting on the
TORII JR. must be adjusted for the new quad of tubes. Simple
instructions for this are in the owner's manual.
OPTIONS
The TORII JR Comes with many OPTIONS so you can personalize your amp
You
can also select from the black figured wood base
(shown at the top of this web page) OR contemporary styled solid
hardwoods like the walnut shown above. Additional woods like oak, maple,
cherry and even exotics can be selected from within the shopping
cart. The Black Figured base is only available in Black.
Available Knobs:
From
left
to
right
are
Ebony,
Gold,
Black, Cream, Walnut. You can configure your Torii with the knobs
you want from within the shopping
cart.
Your Amplifier can be configured in the shopping cart
Voltage: We will automatically
ship your amp with the correct power cord for your country based on the
shipping address you supply and the voltage you select.
Wood: Only the "Black Figured" base is of the Victorian
style, all other hardwood bases are of a contemporary styling. Wood
bases are user interchangeable so if decide at some point to change the
way your amplifier looks with a different wood base, you will not have
to ship the amp back to have it done, you can do it yourself with a
single screwdriver.
Volume Controls: Smooth action volume controls are
standard and are infinitely adjustable giving you precision control over
channel balance. The Stepped attenuators are actually a 20
position switch that features 1% metal film resistors. With those, you
can
adjust the volume in 20 steps. There is no infinitely fine or small
adjustment like the standard volume control.
Knobs: Gold knobs are the most popular and
consequently, kind of the standard knob for a Torii, however if you
selected a black wood base, the Ebony knobs match the base, just as the
Dark Walnut knobs nicely match the wood bases made of walnut. Chicken
head knobs give the amplifier a more vintage look and are available in
black or cream colors.
Shipping Case: This case is a guarantee that your
amplifier will not arrive damaged from shipping. It also has
wheels and a handle making it easy to transport your amplifier to and
from shows or audio events.
This
Military-grade waterproof/shockproof case customized to
perfectly form-fit your amp for transport and or shipping. The
amp fits upside down into foam.
SKB 3I
Series Injection Molded Mil-Standard Waterproof Cases are molded of
ultra high-strength polypropylene co-polymer resin, featuring a
gasketed, water and dust tight, submersible design (MIL-C-4150J) that
is resistant to corrosion and impact damage.
Features a continuous
molded-in hinge, patent pending "trigger release" latch system,
comfortable, snap-down rubber over-molded cushion grip handle,
automatic ambient pressure equalization valve (MIL-STD-648C),
resistance to UV, solvents, corrosion, fungus and impact damage
(MIL-STD-810F).
Case
features wheels and a pull
out handle so anyone can easily move it.
Once
you have configured your amp in the shopping cart, hit the UPDATE
button to see the
total price of your configuration. If you're not sure if you
picked the right options, place the order with the options you picked
and then give Steve a call and we can easily change anything that needs
it. You have on average at least 2 weeks after placing your order to
call.
by Steve Deckert
It's no
secret the in the world of exotic tube amplification that S.E.T. amps
rule
in transparency and liquidity. We've all heard statements like...
"female vocals to die for"
or
"insane imaging" when
describing these jewels, but in the same breath you'll also hear things
like "needs an easy to drive speaker"
or
"while the bass is good, it lacks
the absolute control and dynamics of the bigger amps." So
right away you're left with a compromise... performance vs. musicality
and grace.
S.E.T.
amplifiers
are
what
motivated
the
design
of
the
Zen
TORII & TORII JR
 ...because any time you
have between 2 and 10 gloriously transparent
watts
the only thing that could be better is more. Designing a
high power S.E.T.
amplifier requires adding another gain stage
(tube) or paralleled output tubes (or both). Either one
causes a loss of
transparency when compared to a single output tube per channel.
In the Torii design, even though you have two tubes per channel, they are not in
parallel but rather transformer coupled in series so that only one tube
is really in the signal path at any one time.
Having such a simple signal
path
gives the Zen TORII JR the same transparency as our SET amps where only 2
resistors and 1 capacitor are seen by the signal. And to complete
the
picture, just like a good SET amp, the TORII JR employs no negative feedback for slack-jaw imaging.
UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
How do you get an amplifier to
sound like it does at 2:30 A.M. (when the power is cleanest) during the
day and virtually every time you listen to it? Tube voltage regulation designed to
filter instead of regulate.
First of all, the vast majority of
tube amplifiers for sale do not even have tube regulation. Not to mention the obvious... but
just because an amplifier has tube regulation doesn't mean it's going
to sound better. Tighter and more control, yes. Better?
...not often. The classic shunt regulation so
often seen in tube amplifiers that do offer it, often poisons the
transparency with injected noise
that must be further filtered. The TORII doesn't need tube
regulation to
improve power supply performance. It features a dual mono filter design with
oversize
power transformer. It's a brute force approach that
delivers over 300 ma. of current when barely half that is
actually used by the circuit.
In
this special amplifier the Voltage Regulation tubes are wired in series with
the load. In that configuration they become a filtering device instead
of a regulating device. The VR tubes place a measurable vacuum gap between the load
and the
power supply. This creates Ultra Clean Power because all of
the the noise is filtered off. (Noise from pollution in your local
power grid that includes the
harmonics that
ultimately end up at your wall outlet and in your amplifier.)
This
poisons virtually everyone's power outlets but it is eliminated in the
TORII JR. Noise and contamination in the power grid literally
doesn't make
the jump across this vacuum gap between the cathode and anode of the
regulator tubes. Talk about black backgrounds, we could call it
the
grain eliminator or the liquidity insurance program, or just an unfair
advantage over tube amps.
This ultra clean power is one of the reasons why we know that unless you own
and
use a power generator, like the PS AUDIO power plant as an example,
there is no way your present amplifier will sound as good as a TORII JR during the daytime hours.
You won't find tube regulation in the vast majority of power
amplifiers, and none that use it in this critically important
way. Yet, impressive as it might sound it is only a small part of
why the TORII JR can achieve the unique sound quality that is has.
SET TRANSPARENCY EXPLAINED
 The TORII design uses a unique
push-pull circuit that employs only a single
capacitor and gain stage
to drive the output tubes, just like our popular 2 watt S.E.T.
amps. Add to that the cleverly simple way it preserves the even order
harmonic content and you have a push pull amplifier that is truly unique in the
market... It has the beauty of S.E.T. sound with the
performance of the very best push-pull. Speed and attack are
taken to a new level here. In fact, the TORII JR makes most 200
watt solid state amps sound
lean and flat.
 EVEN ORDER HARMONICS ARE PART OF WHY SINGLE-ENDED AMPLIFIERS SOUND SO GOOD.
The Zen TORII has unique harmonics giving it a sound unlike virtually
all push pull amplifiers, solid state OR tube.
The harmonics of an amplifier can be revealed in the
distortion measurements. There are two types of harmonics; Even order harmonics and Odd order harmonics.
Musical instruments naturally create lots of Even order harmonics. So
do single-ended amplifiers BTW. However, I can't think of too
many things in nature that create sound with Odd Order Harmonics,
except for solid state and tube push pull amplifiers! This is why
you don't get an organic sound from these types of amplifiers, and why
everyone is so gaga over Single ended designs.
Here is a distortion graph
of a typical push pull amplifier:
This works by simply playing a single tone at 1kHz and measuring the
echo! You can see that the first harmonic (A) is at 3kHz - an ODD
number. The next (B) is at 5kHz and the third (C) is at
7kHz. This is what an ODD Order Harmonic signature looks
like. Notice there is no even order content whatsoever.
Also of interest is the average noise floor seen between the test
signal at 1KHz and 20kHz is about -110dB. (larger numbers are
better). Considered very good this noise level is brought to you by a
Balanced XLR solid state push pull power amplifier.
One of the main reasons why push-pull amplifiers never sound like good
single-ended triodes is because most push pull designs naturally cancel
the even-order harmonics as clearly shown in the graph above!
Below is the TORII's graph, where you will find the missing Even order
harmonics at 2kHz, 4kHz, 6kHz and so on, yet it IS a push pull
design!
Shown below is the superior
sounding
distortion
graph
of
a
Zen
TORII:
So
you
can
see
in
the explanation
above
why
the TORII's respond
like
a
single-ended
amp
and
why most
push-pull
designs
sound
far
from
it.
Having
the
power
and
control
of
push-pull and the sound of SET, the
TORII
gives
you
the
best
of both worlds.
THE TORII JR VS TORII MK4
The TORII JR takes our most popular amplifier, the TORII MK4, and
shrinks the physical size down by having one large power transformer
instead of two smaller ones. In addition, an ultra-linear output
transformer is used eliminating much of the complexity of the MK4. For
example, adjustable damping, reconstructive feedback, bass and treble
adjustments are no longer needed and therefor omitted. The additional
tube regulation for the output tubes is also no longer needed since the
tube screen are now regulated by the output transformer. This simplifies
the amplifier resulting in lower cost to produce.
Since the amplifier has less parts and less wire, some very purist
things were done to facilitate absolute transparency. We have located
the silver input selector directly in-between the input jacks so that
all that connects the two is 1 inch of silver/Teflon wire. This was
repeated for each channel and basically eliminated around 14 inches of
internal shielded signal cable. Additionally, the gain (VOL)
controls were separated, one for each channel and located 1 inch away
from each input tube. This again eliminates a 12 inch shielded
signal cable and replaces it with a 1 inch piece of silver Teflon wire.
Besides these differences, the circuit remains the same with the one
major difference of being the TORII JR is a fixed bias amplifier using a
negative voltage on the grids of each output tube. This means
that unlike the TORII MK4, the bias will have to be adjusted each time
output tubes are changed. In the MK4, different output tubes can
be tried without re-biasing.
Biasing the JR is very simple and easy to do, as one small adjustment
does all four output tubes at the same time, and can be done externally
without having to move the amp. We put the adjustment just in
front of the volume control to ensure ease of access. Please
review the owner's manual for more information.
NOTICE for Spring 2021
The TORII JR has just been redesigned - it is now the TORII JRv2.
All TORII JR amplifiers on order are being shipped as TORII JRv2.
You can read about the changes here in our forum:
TORII JR VERSION 2
The short version is that it no longer
has to be biased and it works with a bunch of different output tubes
making it a far friendlier amplifier to own and enjoy. It also
sounds a touch better and includes some anniversary mods as standard
fair.
TORII JR SPECIFICATIONS
TORII JR, a tube amp, measures better than the Hamon Kardon Citation Solid State Receiver of the 1970's with a
square wave response tilt of < 4% and power bandwidth out past 70kHz
- INPUT TUBE CHOICES:
6922, 6N23P, 6DJ8, 7DJ8
- OUTPUT TUBE CHOICES:
EL34 6CA7 KT77 KT66 5881 6L6 7027 350B
- INPUTS: 2 RCA
TYPE INPUT JACKS FOR EACH CHANNEL
- INPUT SELECTOR SWITCH: SILVER
- OUTPUTS: 1 PAIR
HEAVY GOLD 3 WAY BINDING POSTS PER CHANNEL
- OUTPUT STAGE TOPOLOGY:
GND-CATHODE TRANSFORMER RK
- RLOAD PLATE TO PLATE:
6600 OHMS
- ULTRA-LINEAR OUTPUTS
- HI / LO SPEAKER IMPEDANCE SWITCH
- IDLE CURRENT: 40
MILS PER OUTPUT TUBE
- INPUT IMPEDANCE:
100 K OHMS
- INPUT SENSITIVITY: ADJUSTABLE to 2.0 VOLTS
- POWER INTO 4 or 8
OHMS: 20 WATTS RMS PER CHANNEL
- OPERATION: CLASS
A1
- INPUT STAGE REGULATION: OA3/VR75
- RECTIFICATION: 5U4
- INPUT STAGE: ONE
6N23P or 6922 PER CHANNEL
- OUTPUT STAGE:
MATCHED QUAD EL34 PER CHANNEL
- SIZE:
17-1/4
" WIDE x 13-3/4 " DEEP x 7-3/4 " HIGH (figured base)
- SIZE: 16-1/2 " WIDE x 13 " DEEP X 7-3/4 " HIGH (contemporary base)
- NET WEIGHT: 31
lbs.
- WARRANTY:
LIFETIME TO ORIGINAL OWNER / 90 DAYS ON TUBES
- REMOVABLE POWER CORD
- FREQUENCY RESPONSE:
25Hz ~ 25kHz +/- 0.53dB
- FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 10 ~ 70kHz +/- 3dB
- TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION: 0.4%
SPECIFICATIONS MEASURED WITH EL34 OUTPUT TUBES
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